Fired managers sue Market Basket

Eight senior managers who were fired at the start of the ongoing worker protests against Market Basket plan to sue the company for wrongful termination and unpaid wages.

Steve Paulenka, Joe Garon, Dean Joyce, Tom Trainor, Joe Schmidt, James Lacourse, Tom Gordon and Michael Kettenbach received letters by courier a day after the July 18th rally at the company's headquarters in Tewksbury, Mass., where store protests and boycotts were launched.

News of the lawsuit comes in the wake of a letter from the Attorneys General of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, reminding the company's board of directors and two co-CEOs, Felicia Thorton and James Gooch, of state laws that require companies to pay fired employees within 72 hours of their last day.

On Friday, Thorton and Gooch also fired off letters to buyers and district supervisors informing them not to expect their August paychecks due to their "ongoing failure to report to work and their unwillingness to perform any services for the company."

Workers are now planning another rally at the Market Basket store at Stadium Plaza in Tewksbury on Monday, Aug. 4, at 11 a.m. Plans also are being made to demonstrate later in the day in Andover, where Market Basket will hold a job fair to recruit new managers, warehouse workers and associates.